STARKVILLE — Renardo Sidney won’t give any hints where he will play basketball next season.
Mississippi State University’s 6-foot-10 center didn’t address the topic Thursday in the team’s locker room following a 71-61 loss to the University of Georgia in the first round of the Southeastern Conference tournament.
Sidney, who averages 9.9 points and 5.3 rebounds this season, had four points and five rebounds in the opening-round defeat.
“It’s tough,” said Sidney, who has also been a target of fan frustration and criticism. “The whole year has been tough for the whole team, and not just me. Hopefully we get a bid in the NCAA tournament and see where we go from there.”
Sidney and the Bulldogs arrived at New Orleans Arena knowing the implications of going one-and-done in the SEC tournament for the second straight season.
“We were on the bubble going into this game, and we really needed this game,” Sidney said. “Just the thought of your season in somebody else’s hands, it’s kind of tough. Hopefully we get in.”
Sidney has received a lot of attention for his action on and off the court at MSU. In his first media availability of the season, Sidney refused to suggest he has made a decision about whether he will return to Starkville for his final season of college basketball.
“I’m not sure yet, and we still have a lot of basketball to play,” Sidney said. “Hopefully we can make a run in the NCAA tournament.”
MSU (21-11) has lost six of its past eight games and doesn’t have a victory against a school rated in the top 25 of the latest Ratings Percentage Index.
“It hurts,” Sidney. “I know we’re one of the better teams down here in the SEC tournament, and we just didn’t go out there and play hard. We didn’t have no heart.”
Sidney said a bid to the National Invitation Tournament could provide something to play for, especially since it could earn the team a trip back to New York City. In November, MSU beat Texas A&M and the University of Arizona on back-to-back nights to win the 2K Classic tournament.
“We need to still play as a team, play hard, and just keep going,” Sidney said.
Sidney missed the 2009-10 season as the NCAA investigated amateurism violations that stemmed from his father’s ties to Reebok. The shoe company paid Renardo Sidney Sr. $20,000 as a consultant to make sure his son attended their sponsored events. Sidney Jr. was then suspended from playing for MSU for the first nine games the following season and ordered to repay $11,800 after the NCAA ruled he had received improper benefits and lied to investigators.
Sidney has been suspended twice at MSU, including one that came after he traded punches with teammate Elgin Baylor in the stands at a holiday tournament in December 2010 in Hawaii.
Instead of joining MSU on its basketball tour of Europe this summer, Sidney visited former NBA coach John Lucas in Houston, where he worked on conditioning and anger issues with counselors at Lucas’ camp. Lucas has been seen regularly at MSU games at Humphrey Coliseum and has served as a counselor to Sidney at the request of MSU coach Rick Stansbury.
NBADraft.net, a projection website for future professional basketball drafts, doesn’t have Sidney projected to be selected in the 2012
National Basketball Association draft. ESPN.com analyst Chad Ford doesn’t list Sidney in his top 50 prospects.
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